Digital Inclusion Through Distribution of iPads During the Covid19 Pandemic? A Participatory Action Research in a German Secondary School

Abstract

AbstractThe research on digital inequalities today not only focuses on inequalities related to access, but also on digital skills and outcomes of digital media use (van Deursen AJ, Helsper EJ, The third-level digital divide: Who benefits most from being online? In: Communication and information technologies annual, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2015; Ragnedda M, The third digital divide: A Weberian approach to digital inequalities. Routledge, 2016). However, the access inequalities are still an issue that needs to be scrutinized even in the context of the developed countries especially in relation to quality and quantity of technology access and maintenance issues (Gonzales A, Inf Commun Soc 19:234–248, 2016; van Deursen AJ, Van Dijk JA, New Media & Society 21:354–375, 2019). Focusing on the case of the distribution of iPads for all students in primary and secondary schools in the state of Bremen during the Covid19 pandemic, this chapter discusses if and how hardware distribution projects can be successful for mitigating the digital inequalities among the young people. The presented analysis is based on a participatory action research project that was conducted in a secondary school that is based in a socioeconomically disadvantaged and culturally diverse school in Bremen. The empirical data that will be discussed here consists of participatory observations from January 2020 to April 2021 and three rounds of focus groups with the students. The chapter discusses how the iPad project was perceived by the students before and after the distribution of the iPads and how they were used for distance education during school closures. The chapter will argue that the project was successful for mitigating the immediate effects of school closures by helping the students to interact more with their teachers and structure their days better by following the school’s online classes. However, the students also raised serious concerns about the maintenance of the devices as well as the risks of surveillance by the teachers and the school administration.